As soon as prostate cancer moves out of the prostate and extended into other areas of the body it is referred to as advanced prostate cancer and advanced prostate cancer treatment is much more difficult than treatment when cancer is confined to the prostate gland.
Where your cancer has not spread too far and is not too aggressive it is possible not merely to treat it but in fact to cure it. However, in many cases where cancer is widespread, or is too aggressive, treatment is a case of simply slowing the progress of the disease and providing you with the best possible quality of life.
Presently one of the principle prostate cancer treatment options for cases of advanced prostate cancer is intravenous chemotherapy frequently using a drug known as docetaxal. Docetaxal is a particularly effective drug for many patients and it does indeed hold back the progression of advanced prostate cancer and extend life for many people. Nonetheless, it does have its side effects which include things like nausea, loss of appetite, hair loss and a greater risk of infection. Consequently it is here that we come across one of the biggest problems in the treatment of advanced prostate cancer.
When you are treating a condition that cannot be cured and that will eventually kill you, then lengthening your life by holding back the progression of the cancer is fine providing that treatment gives you a reasonable quality of life and does not leave you feeling that the treatment is worse than the condition itself.
For a lot of prostate cancer sufferers, who are normally in their 60s or older, chemotherapy is not pleasant but is a price that is worth paying to buy them some time when they first start their treatment. However, as the treatment progresses and the side effects start to build up the picture often alters and many patients soon begin to ask whether or not it is all worth it. Naturally this is never an easy question to answer and has to be the subject of a discussion between the patient, his family and his physician.
Most of us will be familiar with this situation either through our own experience with illness or as a result of our experience of seeing family members of close friends in this situation and know only too well just how difficult a time it can be.
There may however be a bit of light at the end of this tunnel because studies involving a group of patients with metastatic, androgen-independent prostate cancer indicate that many patients may be able to take a ‘chemo holiday’ without any significant damage to their treatment. Put another way, after several weeks of chemotherapy, and at a time when the side effects are beginning to get you down, you might be able to simply stop your chemotherapy for a time and let your body recover a little before carrying on with your treatment.
It is of course early days yet and no-one is exactly sure yet exactly how long a ‘chemo holiday’ might be or how frequently you can take one, but for many advanced prostate cancer patients this seemingly minor advance in treatment could make all the difference in the world.
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